When most Marvel readers nowadays talk about Marvel Cosmic, they tend to focus on the creative explosion starting with Annihilation in the mid-2000’s extending through the Thanos Imperative and Annihilators around 2010.

There’s ample reason for this focus – the period generated several of my favorite Marvel Comics of the 2000’s, including Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova – but it should come as little surprise that Marvel’s Cosmic universe extends all the way back to Fantastic Four #2 in 1963!

Below you’ll find a mega Marvel Cosmic guide, from the origins of the Skrulls through more recent events like Infinity and the 2017 solo Thanos series. I would highly recommend readers (new, lapsed, or long-time) use Marvel Unlimited for the older issues, especially if the stories aren’t collected in their old trades. I’ll link to where you can find copies of these comics below, but MU is the cheaper digital option for most.

If you have questions or feedback, do what feels right to you in the comments below, or let me hear about it @ComicBookHerald on Twitter. Otherwise, enjoy the comics!

Jack Kirby and Stan Lee with “The Coming of Galactus.” These three issues (really two and a half) define so much of Marvel Comics to come, and introduce cosmic characters like Galactus and the Silver Surfer, along with the biggest Watcher appearance of all time! Then, in FF #57 to #60, it’s Doctor Doom vs. the Silver Surfer in one of my favorite Lee and Kirby productions.

Reed in the Negative Zone, where he meets Blastaar for the first time. In Fantastic Four Annual #5 Ronan the Accuser makes his debut in Fantastic Four! In Fantastic Four Annual #6 Annihilus makes his official comics debut and turns out he’s great with kids.

The Jim Starlin 70’s Marvel Cosmic era takes off, and defines much of what’s to come. Iron Man #55 is the official first appearance of Thanos and Drax the Destroyer, and Captain Marvel reaches new heights, crossing over with the Avengers in a quest to stop Thanos with a cosmic cube.

Jim Starlin & Ron Lim’s 1990’s Infinity Trilogy!

You can quite comfortably keep your reading to the core six event issues of Infinity Gauntlet, but if you want all the tie-ins (Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange particularly add to the narrative), I have an Infinity Gauntlet reading order here.

The previous two trades will help explain Emperor Vulcan, while the latter two trades will help explain the state of the Inhumans. Not required reading, but a good bit of “what the heck’s going on here?” history setting up War of Kings.

Hickman’s Infinity through Guardians / X-Men in The Black Vortex

God Emperor Jonathan Hickman takes on Starlin’s Thanos/Infinity mantle and somehow wields the power with sufficient control and skill. In all honesty, Infinity will really only make sense if you read the entire Hickman Avengers run to this point, and it’s quite cosmic (and awesome) in its own right.

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About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He's a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

Reader Interactions

Comments

This is awesome. I loved the modern Marvel Cosmic comics, specifically Guardians and Nova. I’ll be sure to go through this list at a later time so I get to know the background behind some of the big events.